The Art of Pretending
by India Simba
Summary: Scorned from InuYasha's rejection, Kagome refuses to allow her heart to be broken again. She pretends that what she feels for Kurama will pass as she helps Botan plan their wedding.
1. Prologue

A/N: Let me know if you want to see how we get to this point, thanks!

* * *

She pretended that her feelings for him were nothing more than friendship. Too afraid was she of rejection that she denied herself.

The music was soothing to the ears as classical filled the tiny shop. Bubbly sake greeted her taste buds as she tried her best to be as calm as everyone else. Her blue tinted hair was piled messily upon her head as she waited until the last possible moment to leave the comfort of her home.

Keiko was unable to make it to the appointment as she was too busy with her twins, Yukina was off in the demon world as she had heard word that her brother may yet still be alive, and thus that left Kagome to bear witness to Botan's happy moment.

She poured herself some more of the peach flavored sake, enjoying the ease in which it went down. Her left leg began to shake as she looked around at all the dresses in their many shades of white.

"How do I look?", Botan twirled around, the dress giving shape to her modest chest and flaring out at the bottom.

"Beautiful, you look beautiful", Kagome briefly looked down at her flute, "I think this should be the one."

Botan beamed as she looked herself over in the mirror. "Take a picture so I can show the others" , she struck a pose so that everyone could see how happy she was.


	2. First Impressions

_A/N: Just wanted to say thanks for all that reviewed, followed, or favorited this piece. I'm going to start working on creating longer stories._

* * *

 _How do you know when its time to move?_ Kagome asked herself that every day. She could not stand the looks of pity from Sango nor the lack of eye contact from _him_. Huffing, she pulled at the roots of the produce with a little more aggression than was needed. The village needed to prepare for the oncoming winter and she decided to spend her weekend helping them with such an endeavor.

After three years in her time the well reopened and allowed her to once more go freely between times. At first, she had imagined that she would be spending the rest of her days in the past with InuYasha and it seemed that he was on board. _Once a cheater, always a cheater_. She shook her head, willing the tears to not fall. A light breeze swept through the fields carrying her tears with them.

 _No. No more will I allow myself to fall victim_.

* * *

"Heading back Kagome-chan?" The slayer walked towards the priestess with a young child on her hips.

"Yeah, I'll be back next weekend." Kagome adjusted her yellow bag.

Sango reached for her hand, "You can always talk to me.", she squeezed her hand before backing away. A gentle smile graced Kagome's face, but she gave no reply as there was nothing left to say on the subject.

She sighed and began walking towards the well. The path so familiar that she did not have to pay attention to where she was going, so caught up in her thoughts that she almost walked past the injured man. She quickly rushed over to him, dropping down into the lush grass. _Goodness, he's gorgeous. No, bad Kagome he's injured, now is not the time to ogle him._ His silver hair was caked with blood, though she suspected that most of it was from whoever he had been fighting, his molten eyes looked over at her with distrust, but he was too weak from the poison to do rid of her.

"Come to finish me off." His voice was like silk gliding over a rose.

"I've come to do no such thing." Her voice was soothing as she began to look him over injuries. He had small cuts, but nothing that appeared to be major.

"Poison." He coughed, his vision was blurring but he could make out that she appeared to be concerned.

 _I could try to purify it out._ Her breathing became erratic, sweat covered her brow as she focused her powers to attack only the poison from his system. Pink flowed from her hands as she poured more energy into purifying the poison.

Youko tensed when he first felt the wave of purification, but the poison left him unable to defend himself. _Strange, this isn't causing me any pain._ He looked her over, taking notice of how often her chest rose with each passing second, her skin was quite tan. He had never seen such material in his long life, her legs were covered in some stretchy material that left nothing to the imagination, her top well modest showcased each curve of her breast. Her hair was pulled back in low ponytail and Youko appreciated the delicate curve of her neck, it was her eyes however that enchanted him. He had never seen eyes so blue, eyes that still shown with innocence.

 _Almost, almost there_. She was starting to see double of this demon as she continued to exert herself. _Got it!_ She smiled as her body began to fall over, pleased that she was able to save a life. She never made contact with the ground as Youko reacted. Standing up he cradled her to himself before making his way towards a more secure location. He was in her debt and would at the very least watch over her until she awakened.

* * *

She dreamed of silver and gold. Why did she always find silver haired demons with golden eyes? She was in a field being held by InuYasha, he lowed his face closer to her and she leaned hers up in anticipation. But when she opened her eyes, it was not InuYasha's golden eyes looking down at her, no these eyes were more like molten and less warm.

"Good, you're awake." He moved away from her and sat back by the fire.

"Ugh, are you feeling better?", She moved to sit up. _Definitely used too much energy back there._

"I am in your debt, name your price."

She narrowed her eyes at him, "There is no debt, I didn't save you for some monetary gain." She averted her eyes as the tension began to be too much for her, she simply did not have the energy to go back and forth.

"Hn." He was sure that she was lying, who wouldn't jump at the chance of killing him off or having him in their debt. _A fool_. " I will take you to where you need to be in the morning." He didn't show it, but the poison had taken its toll and he needed time to rest.

 _Guess I'll be missing etymology class in the morning_. She pouted. A beat passed. "Kagome".

"Youko" he replied, waiting for her reaction but when she only smiled at him, he scoffed internally. Perhaps it was best she was unaware that she was keeping the infamous bandit thief company.

* * *

"Your destination was an old well?" He crossed his arms and looked at her expectantly.

"I'm meeting a friend here, there's no need to stay."

"Suit yourself." He gave her a nod and blurred from her sight.

She let out a sigh, being around him was wreaking havoc on her thoughts. Throwing her bag into the well, she jumped down into the familiar blue light.

Youko jumped down from the tree and made his way towards the well. Old bones greeted him, but there was no sight of the priestess. "Interesting".

Kagome opened up the shed doors and ran into a hard chest. "Ow, sorry-", a man with red hair looked down at her, but when his emerald eyes flashed gold she knew.

"Youko?"


End file.
